Nonrodded milk crate



Get. 4, 1938. H. s. LION ET. AL

NONRODDED MILK CRATE Filed May 4, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 1NVENTORS.. 654F040 5. 1 10M ain 1515 G. Ruff ATTORNEYS n Oct. 4, 1938. H, 5 LION ET AL 2,132,118

NONRODDED MILK CRATE Filed May 4, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IZIG. 6.

IN VENTORS H4004 a S. L/o/v CARL /s. E G. FoHPER.

ww afa.

ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 4, 1938. H. s. LION ET AL 2,132,118

NONRODDED MILK CRATE Filed May 4, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

INVENTORS- HAROLD 5. L/o/v CARL 15,: E G. POI/FER.

QZYQMM ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 4, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE]? i 2,1s2,11s'

- 'NONRODD ED MILK CRATE Harold Lion and Carlisle G. Rohrer, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignors, by mcsne assignments, to The Evans Manufacturing Company, Cincinnati,.( hio, a corporation of Ohio L AppIication May 4, 1935, Serial No. 19,860

f7 Claims. (01. zit-e5) In the copending applications in the names of Lion and Rohrer, Ser. No. 748,535 filed October 16,1934 and Ser. No. 748,536, filed October 16, 1934, there is set forth a type-of corner iron construction and assembly for slatted crates; which is employed in this invention, and will be herein described. One of the objects of this invention is the adaptation of the ty e of crate of the said copending application to the use of other supporting means for the milk bottles than the rodded construction therein described. In this invention we employ wooden members form ing at least a partial bottom for the crate as the bottle supports. So far as we are aware, this has never hitherto been practicable in the slatted type of crate.

There are certain advantages in-milk crates having wooden supports for the bottle bottoms, among which may be mentioned-the matterof cushioning for the bottles, and also the matter of very much less noise when the crates are'used. However, as will be clear, the wooden support type of crate is subject to heavy wear in' the wooden supporting members, which also are eX'-- posed to weather conditions, chemicals, moisture, as in cleaning and icing, and the like. Therefore for such a crate' to be'fu-llysuccessful it should be a type of crate in which'the said bottom members are renewablewith ease and economy, and it is therefore an object or our invention to provide a. crate which not only is very strong and rugged, but which maybe assembled and disassembled with the utmost case.

When these objects are accomplished it will be understoodthat. the absence of a rodded: construction, i. e. a construction in which thereare longitudinal and transverse rods riveted intothej side walls, or. slats of a box, is a thing. which becomes of very considerable importance in the matter of ease of assembly and disassemblmand one. of the objects of ourinvention is to provide such a structure. Another object of our invention is to provide. a new type of holding means" for the bottom wooden supporting members, and a new assembly in which the lower side slats of, a crate form a portion of the bottom wooden supporting members, and the lower end slats. of the. crate serve as holding means for the other wooden bottom supporting means. Still. another object of our invention is to combine these features' with the use of bottom end rails or slats, whichfwhile readily renewable, are adequately strong for the purpose, and which areencased in. metal, tothe end of eliminating the necessity for shoe orrailstrips. 1

Still another object of our invention is to pro vide a novel type of upper spacing support for the bot-ties, which makes for quieter operation, and is a further assurance against breakage of the bottles. I 4

These and other objects of our invention which will beset forth hereinafter, or will be apparentto-one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, we'accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which we shall now set forth .an exemplary embodiment, reference being had to the drawings, in which:

' Figure 1 is a perspective view of our exemplary crate, with-a corner portion cut away to showthe interior construction.

Fig. 2 is anouter corner elevation.

Fig. 3 is 'a semi-sectional view, the section being" taken along'the lines 3, 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a'perspective View of the corner assembly without the slats.

Fig. 4a. shows a reinforcing member.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a resilient bottle supporting means. v

Fig. 6' is a view of a-tool usual in disassembling the crate.

Fig. 7 is a partial perspective view of the bottom assembly. a b Fig. 8 is a plan view of a bottom end rail.

One of the features of our invention is the adaptation of wooden bottle supporting means to the slatted crate. Another feature is the use of wooden bottle supporting means, as bottom rails in the crate. Another feature is the use of other bottom' rails as holding means for the wooden bottle supporting members by morticin'g the said members thereinto, giving to the bot tom of the. crate a. solid braced construction, without the use of rods either as tie rods or as bottle supporting means. Other features of the invention willbe clear from What follows. r

While we shall describe our invention exactly in connection with a preferred. exemplary embodiment' thereof, it will be understood thatour. invention extends beyond the exemplary embodi-: ment which we shall particularly describe, and isnot to-be considered as limited otherwise than; as set forth in the appended claims. v

By reference to Figure 4, the general construction of ourainnerand, outer corner iron members will be clear. There is an outer corner iron member I, having irons 2 bent over at intervals to lie between the slats or rails. in the crate. Preferably the outer corner iron is bent. over on the bottom as at 4 to form a bottom shoe; with portions 5, carried'up on the inside of the corner:

corner construction is easily disassembled.

to form a portion of the inner corner iron and bent over to form ears 6, cooperating with the ears 2 and lying above the bottom rails. The inner corner iron is indicated at and has bent over ears 8 to lie between the rails and ears 9, bent over at the top to lie above the top rail. Preferably a stacking iron I is formed integral with the inner corner iron 1 so as to project above the top of the crate, and permit stacking of one crate upon another, as is usual in the employment of these articles.

The slats go between the inner and outer corner irons and I, as will be clear from a consideration of Figs. 1 to 3. The ears and the slats are perforated so as to give a continuous perforation from top to bottom as shown; and the slats are assembled to the corner irons, and the whole held together by means of headed rods indicated in the several figures at I I. The heads l2 of these rods lie above the top ears of the outer corner irons, and the rods are cut of such length as not to extend through the bottoms of the perforations. A convenient locking means for the rods comprises, as shown, a hump or shoulder l3 formed in the rods. At the place where this hump is to come in the completed crate, one of the slats may have an enlarged perforation, M to accommodate it. We have found that it is preferable to locate the hump l3 such a distance from the head I2 as to cause the hump, in use, to lie below a pair of the lapped ears 2 and 8 of the outer and inner corner irons, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Any rail or slat through which the hump is to pass may have aslightly enlarged perforation; but otherwise, and excepting for the hump holding perforation l4, the rods may fit the perforations in the slats as tightly as desired. When the rod has been driven home, as is shown in Fig. 3, a very sound and strong corner construction is provided, and it will be noticed that this has been done without the use of rivets, nails or other outside fastening means. Nevertheless this It has been indicated that the perforation common to the ears and slats extends from the top to the bottom of the structure. Consequently, it is possible to use a disassembling tool ,such as that shown in Fig. 6, where a shank 5 of approxi mately the size of the rod H is, detachably or otherwise, fastened to a driving portion l6, which may be tapped with a hammer. If the shank I5 is placed in the bottom of the perforation referred to, its end will contact the lower end of the rod H. For the sake of positive driving contact, we prefer to make the end of the shank l5 cup-shaped, as shown at H, and slightly to taper the ends of the rod II, as shown at l8, The length of the shank l5 will be sufficient to cause the hump l3 to come above the top of the crate'when the tool of Fig. 6 is driven upwardly in theperforation. Whenthe hump has thus been freed, it is thereafter easy to withdraw the rod II by grasping it with pliers, or other ripping means, and pulling upwardly. After the replacement of corner irons or slats, the corner is reassembled by driving the rods home. A reinforcing member 411., as shown in Figs. 4 and 401;, may be used inside the corner iron I.

Fig. 1 indicates the general assembly of the crate, wherein side rail I members are marked l9, and end rail members 20.

As lower end rail members in our crate, we prefer to employ wooden rails, having a'metal housing somewhat as set forth in the co-pending application of Fred G. Krueger and Harold S.

Lion, Ser. No. 561,022, filed September 3, 1931. A rail such as we use is shown in Fig. 8, where the wooden portion is indicated at 2|, and metal sheathing or housing means at 22. The sheathing means covers the outer side portion of the rail, is bent over above the rail as at 23, and below the rail as at 24. It is also continued partially up on the inside of the rail as at 25. The outer portion of the sheathing may be corrugated for strength, as shown in Figs. 1 and 8. The

wooden portion of the rail is cut as at 26, and an extension of the bottom member 24, shown at 21, is bent inwardly therealong, so as to take care of the thickness of the bottom shoe members 4 and reinforcing members 40. of the outer corner irons. In use, the shoe members 4 of the outer corner irons and the bottom portion 24 of the metal sheathing of the end rails, form a continuous bottom metal surfacing across the ends of the crate. The end rails will be perforated at their ends for the reception of the rods land the disassembling tools, as will be clear from the several figures. v l

7 Our bottom rails are morticed as at 28 to accept the tenons of the bottom bottle supporting means next to be described. I The lower side rails of the crate are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 7 at 29, and are sufiiciently thicker than the other side rails in the crate to permit the formation of cut-out portions 30 to form parts of bottle receiving pockets. The ends of these bottom side rails are cut away to the thickness of the other slats, as at 3|, so as to go'between the stacking iron ID of a lower crate. We provide also two or, more fairly wide middle bottle supporting members 32, having pocket forming cut-outs 33 on each side thereof. These middle supporting members are provided with tenons 34 at their ends, which tenons are adapted to enter the mortices 28 in the bottom end rails. The assembly of these parts will be clear from Figs. 1 and 7, and it will be seen that the bottom, when. assembled, is very solidly braced. There is, of course, a

spacing between the bottom side rails 29 and the middle bottle supporting members 32, as is neceS-l sary for drainage purposes, and also for cleaning when the crate and bottles are cleaned together in the so-called pressure type of crate and bottle washer; but this spacing indicated at 35 is insufiicient to allow the bottoms of bottles to pass there-- through, and is preferably insufficient toallow the tops of bottles to pass therethrough. Thus we obviate the necessity of providing additional sup-- porting or safety means in the bottom, such-as rods. Preferably also, as shown in Fig. 8, the turned-over member 25 of the metal sheathing of the bottom end rails will extend upwardly substantially to the lower edges of the mortices 28, so as to strengthen the structure. The structure which we have described is very strong because the tenons 34 may be made heavy enough for any desired service, and the mortices in the end rails 2| are fully reinforced by the metal sheathing thereof.

It will be understood as embraced within the scope of that phase of the invention thus far described to use any desired type of upper bottle spacing means, such as rods, wooden partition members, or the like. We have, however, shown in Figs. 1 and 5 a preferred type of bottle spacer, consisting of a resilient member, usually of rubber, and indicated at 36. This member may be cut from a sheet of rubber, or formed in a moulding operation with'bottle receiving openings 31, and will also preferably be formed with attachment tongues 38, perforated as at 39. These attachment tongues are of such a length as to permit their extension between the rails, and, as shown in Fig. 1, one horizontal set of the rails may be cut away as at 19 to receive these tongues...

accept the thickness of the tongues 38. Where,

however, a difierent position is desired, it is competent to use above the tongues filler members indicated in Fig. l at 42. The rubber supporting means 36 is very strong, and well-able to withstand any of the strains or shocks of expected usage. It forms, however, a completely resilient and silent supporting means for the bottles. It is more convenient to replace than riveted members, and is entirely sanitary.

As hereinabove indicated, modifications may be made in our invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a milk crate, or the like, a slatted construction of the side and end walls, a wooden bottle supporting means formed in sections, a pair of said sections constituting oppositely disposed bottom rails of said crate, and other sections thereof being morticed into other bottom rail portions of said crate, said last mentioned bottom rail sections having a metal housing for strengthening said mortices.

2. In a milk crate, or the like, inner and outer corner irons, interspaced rails held between said corner irons to form side and end wall members of said crate, oppositely disposed lower rails having extensions projecting inwardly of said walls to form partial bottom supporting means, additional bottle supporting means located in the same plane, interspaced therefrom, said addi-v tional means being connected with other oppositely disposed bottom rail portions, said connection comprising tenons on said additional bottle supporting means, mortices in said end rails, and metal sheathings on said end rails having a function in strengthening said mortices.

3. In combination in a milk crate or like construction, inner and outer corner irons, rails forming side and end wall members of said crate, ears on said corner irons lying between adjacent rails, continuous perforations through said ears and rails, and pin means extending into said perforations for locking said structure at the corners, lower side rails of said assembly having inwardly disposed extensions serving as bottle supporting means, and additional co-operating bottle supporting means located between said lower side rails, said additional bottle supporting means being morticed into the lower end rails of said crate.

4. In combination in a milk crate or like construction, inner and outer corner irons, rails forming side and end wall members of said crate, ears on said corner irons lying between adjacent rails, continuous perforations through said ears and rails, and pin means extending into said perforations for locking said structure at the corners, lower side rails of said assembly having inwardly disposed extensions serving as bottle supporting means, additional co-operating bottle supporting means located between said lower side rails, said additional bottle supporting means being morticed into the lower end rails of said crate, and upper resilient bottle spacing means.

5. In combination in a milk crate or like construction, inner and outer corner irons, rails forming side and end wall members of said crate, ears on said corner irons lying between adjacent rails, continuous perforations through said ears and rails, and pin means extending into said perforations for locking said structure at the corners, lower side rails of said assembly having inwardly disposed extensions serving as bottle supporting means, additional co-operating bottle supporting means located between said lower side rails, said additional bottle supporting means being morticed into the lower end rails of said crate, upper resilient bottle. spacing means, said resilient spacing means having attachment tongues for the purpose, said tongues being let into said rails, and pin means passing through said tongues and into said rails for holding said tongues thereto.

6. In combination in a milk crate or like construction, inner and outer corner irons, rails forming side and end wall members of said crate, ears on said corner irons lying between adjacent rails, continuous perforations through said ears and rails, and pin means extending into said perforations for locking said structure at the corners, lower side rails of, said assembly having inwardly disposed extensions serving as bottle supporting means, additional co-operating bottle supporting means located between said lower side rails, said additional bottle supporting means being morticed into the lower end rails of said crate, and upper resilient bottle spacing means under tension.

'7. In a crate of slatted construction, resilient spacing means in the form of a sheet of rubber, having openings therein to receive articles placed in said crate, said sheet extending across and being fixed to horizontally opposed pairs of slats.

HAROLD S. LION. CARLISLE G. ROI-IRER. 

